Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Bipolar Disorder

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), approved in 2005 for the management of treatment-resistant depression, uses mild electronic pulses to intermittently stimulate the left vagus nerve. A recent study evaluating VNS + treatment as usual (TAU) to a similar group of treatment-resistant patients who received only TAU indicated similar efficacy for the subset of bipolar depressed patients and the unipolar depressed patients.